So this set is based around tunes from the 93-94 era (with one from 92 thrown in that was way ahead of its time) that were big pirate radio favourites of mine, tunes that instantly make me think of a particular station, DJ/MC, tape, time or place the second I hear that breakdown. Basically tunes that had a positive impact on me, that I went out and bought because of pirate radio.

I have spliced in little sections of some of my old recordings (mainly Kool FM ones) that I happen to have ripped and saved on my computer – I tried not to go overboard with this, but did include some slightly longer memorable clips, like the infamous “Duffer Paul” reload, Kool FM NYE 94 into 95, which friends and me creased up over many times.

A lot of these tunes are not heard so much these days compared to the bigger anthems (many of which owe their success to stations like Kool and Rush), some are a bit rough around the edges and some were overshadowed by a monster of an anthem on the flipside (Renegade’s Something I Feel for example).

I purposefully didn’t play tracks by the same artist or on the same label more than once to try and get a nice cross-section of music in there, but it was very tough to leave some out, especially when flicking through the Reinforced back cat from this era. Also, I didn’t want to repeat tunes that already feature in previous mixes of mine such as “Just About Jungle”, which is packed with a lot of my old pirate favourites.

*Disclaimer - our third release on Ruff Revival was a collaboration between this guy and Ricky Force, and I've met him a couple of times, other than that, no relationship, and in fact, I kind of hate him for doing this mix.

In the summer of 2012, Onra & Lexis joined forces to tackle a project based on a music period they both love so much. That brief period from approximately ’93 to ’96: the New Jack Swing sound got dated and soulful club music became much closer to the Hip-Hop productions of the time to create this Urban R’n’B type of music.

We simply call this era the “Throw Em’ Up” period in reference to the way that everyone in clubs and videos was vibin’ to these tracks: just throw up both your arms and wave them around nonchalantly (if possible with a champagne glass). The selection rules we followed for Vol. 2 are simple: #1: Soul artists featuring MC’s are ok, but not the other way around. #2: All of the picks have to pass the “throw em’ up” dance test, which means: no New Jack Swing stuff, no Timbaland because although Timbo is a genius it’s really a different kind of sound which shaped the late 90′s / early 2000′s sound.